Names and faces

By DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS

Posted: January 4, 2013 at 2:23 a.m.

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday granting Russian citizenship to Gerard Depardieu, a French movie star and tax rebel. The text of the decree on the Kremlin website said: “The application for Russian citizenship by Gerard Xavier Depardieu, born in France in 1948, is granted under Article 89, item ‘a’ of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.” The actor has bought a piece of property in a village of tax exiles in Belgium and told French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault that he would give up his French passport.